


A Place Among the Stars

by poisonous_mushroom



Category: X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Interstellar, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Established Relationship, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-25
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-17 05:45:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4654611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonous_mushroom/pseuds/poisonous_mushroom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Interstellar AU.</p><p>On an Earth that has nothing to offer to a starving population anymore, Erik, a former NASA pilot, is asked to leave the planet to find another home for humanity.</p><p>He promises Charles he will come back, eventually.</p><p>Charles knows he probably won't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone!
> 
> So, I was just watching Interstellar the other day, and I said to myself, "I need to Cherik it", so I did.
> 
> If you haven't watched Interstellar yet, well, stop what you're doing right now and watch it! I have never seen a movie that touched me as deeply as this one did. I certainly cried too much for Cooper and Murphy to be honest.
> 
> Anyway, if you prefer watch it later (or never, which is a shame), here is the plot: basically, in a more or less close future, the Earth is kind of dying, or at least, is not as hospitable as it used to be for humans. There is dust everywhere and wheat has died, leaving only corn, and the few thousands of millions of people left are starving. Most of people have become famers to cultivate their own corn and produce food.  
> The hero, Cooper (here Erik) is a farmer, but used to be a NASA pilot. After some events, he leaves his family to join a small team of people, hired to find another planet suitable for humans.
> 
> I probably explained it very badly, so I suggest you to read the plot somewhere else to understand better ;)
> 
>  
> 
> So this is the first multi chapter fic I'm posting here. I still don't know how many chapters this will have, I don't really have finished it, but the chapters will be rather short. Not as short as the first one since it's a kind of prologue, but still short.
> 
> As usual, I apologize in advance for the mistakes that could be hidden in the story: I'm not a native English speaker :)

The drive back home was silent. Charles was looking thoughtfully through the window while Erik was concentrated on the road. It was dawn and the sunrise was breathtaking. However, neither of them paid attention to it.

Erik was glancing at Charles from time to time, expecting a reaction, a word, a look, something. But nothing came. Charles did not look at him, not even once, during the two-hour trip from the NASA facility to their house.

When they arrived, Charles didn’t even wait for Erik to stop the car properly and jumped out of it to disappear inside the house.

Erik took a moment to breath and think. He looked at their small house, surrounded by the fields he hated so much. Their cultivation was one of the last of the area. His neighbor’s just burnt a week ago. He thought about all those people who were starving, about the dust constantly in the air, about that job he was forced to take, about this life that was more about surviving than truly living.

If Charles wasn’t there, he wouldn't have hesitated for a second.

But Charles was there and it changed everything.

With a sigh, Erik got out of the car to find Charles in the kitchen, leaning against the table, looking at the sunrise. 

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Charles whispered quietly. 

It was, really, but Erik couldn't care less about the landscape. His gaze was stuck on Charles. 

"Charles..."

Erik didn't finish his sentence, simply because he didn't know what to say. To be honest, he expected Charles to be the one to talk, to yell, to express his feelings.

To be quiet and silent... That was Erik's thing. 

But Charles kept looking at the window. 

"Why don't you say anything... I thought you... you would convince me not to go..."

Charles turned his head and looked at Erik, a sad smile on his well-rounded lips. 

"I don't have to convince you of anything, Erik. You've already taken your decision, haven't you?"

"I..."

"Don't. I saw you back there. You're excited by the project. You have a chance to start over your old life. You live for it. You're made for it." Charles took a deep breath. "And you hate your life here. » He finished, turning his eyes away. 

Erik opened his mouth, wishing to say something to refute what Charles just said, but he couldn’t find anything that Charles would believe. He knew him completely. He knew how it broke him entirely when he had been said that his gift of pilot would be now useless since the NASA had stopped their activity. How much he despised being a farmer when he knew he could be so much more. He was.

So it was useless to try to hide him this simple and obvious fact: Yes, he wanted to do this. Being a part of the Lazarus project was the most dangerous thing he would ever do, but it was also the most thrilling one. He could feel useful again: to open an emergency exit to this hopeless humanity.

Charles knew all of it.

"You should enjoy the view," Charles said, showing the sunrise with a movement of his head. "You don’t know when you’re going to see one like that again."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened in the NASA facility.

_A few hours ago_

"So… What is it all about?" Erik asked after sitting down. "Why are you hiding? I thought NASA disappeared ten years ago!"

Charles gently pressed Erik’s hand under the table. He felt he was getting angry and tried to calm him down, stroking his hand with his thumb in a soothing gesture.

"We did…" Dr Frost answered. "Officially."

He looked at is daughter, a blonde woman oozing pride by all her pores.

"The population couldn’t understand that the government was still wasting money for spacial research when the real problem was to feed everyone. So we had to be discreet. This facility is the last one we have." She added. "We were asked to look for a more permanent solution to our problem. This is how ten years ago, we created the Lazarus project."

She stood up and showed a series of pictures hung against the wall.

"We found twelve planets, all potentially suitable for the human race. Those twelve scientists volunteered to leave Earth to go to these planets and find out if we could… move there."

She looked at the twelve pictures, then her gaze stopped at the one in the middle.

"Sebastian Shaw was the head of this project. He was the one who managed to persuade the others to accompany him in this risky adventure." She turned and faced the small assembly around the table. "Those people are heroes, and we need to continue what they started. Hank," she said, looking at the man who had earlier introduced himself as Dr. Hank McCoy.

"Yeah, right," he said, standing up and glancing at his papers nervously. "As Emma just said, the members of the Lazarus project left ten years ago. They all arrived at their destination a couple of years after their departure. Since their landing on their respective planets, we have been receiving reports and different kind of messages quite regularly. Unfortunately, we quickly discovered that most of the planets were uninhabitable for us. However, there are three planets that could host humanity. Possibly. Shaw’s planet, Summers’ planet and Grey’s planet. This is where we need to go."

Hank looked at Erik expectantly. Erik knew he should say something, but no sound came out of his mouth. His thoughts were a mess in his mind. He stared at Charles for a few seconds, enough for him to gather the motivation he needed to speak. 

"Wait, this is… this is really great, but there is one _big_ thing I don’t understand at all… Where the hell are these planets? None of the planets in our solar system are inhabitable and we would need thousands and thousands years to go the another one! That doesn't make any sense!"

Then Dr Frost, the only person Erik knew in this room, began to explain how a wormhole that allowed them to travel to _another galaxy_ just popped up next to Saturn fifty years ago, for no apparent reason. Erik found it hard to believe, but all the scientists in the room seemed entirely sure of what they were saying. Moreover, Frost was the smartest man Erik knew, so his point of view itself was enough to convince Erik.

Once Frost finished his excited (and exciting, Erik had to admit) speech, Erik released the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Charles kept stroking his hand absent-mindedly. His face was expressionless and Erik wished he could read his mind. Erik was certain that Charles was already thinking that Erik had taken his decision. 

"Why me?" Erik finally asked to Frost. "You have plenty of other people here who could do the job."  
"You were our best pilot, Erik, and you know it. No one here is as good as you are."

Of course Erik knew it. Still, he felt flattered to hear it.

"It’s been ten years… I don’t even know if I could even do this again…"  
"Erik." Frost said with a kind of « don’t think I’m an idiot » tone.  
"What if I say no?"  
"Will you?" Frost answered with a knowing smile.

Erik didn’t know what to say. If he had received this proposition ten years ago, before Charles appeared in his life, he wouldn’t even have a second thought about it. His instincts were to say yes immediately, not caring about the danger.

But he was asked this now, and it made a huge difference.

"How long?" Charles broke the silence. He hadn’t talked at all since they arrived and his voice was hoarse. The old professor looked at him like he didn’t expect him to speak and raised an interrogative eyebrow. "How long will they go? I know it’s a two-year trip to reach Saturn, but what about it, then? When they cross this wormhole? How long will it take for them to come back?"

_If they come back…_

Charles didn’t say it but Erik heard it anyway.

Frost, as well as the other people present, seemed surprise about Charles’ intervention.

"How do you know how long it takes to go to Saturn?" Emma Frost asked curiously.  
"I am a scientist as well. Not your branch, but I have enough knowledge in space and astronomy to understand that it’ll be a long trip. Now I’d like to have an answer to my question, if you please."

The Frosts stayed speechless for a couple of seconds in front of the confident authority that Charles just showed.

"Well…" Dr Frost, the father, began, weighing his words. "As you said, they’ll need two years to reach Saturn’s area. They will sleep during most of the trip. Then, once they go through the wormhole… it’s… kind of complicated to measure…"

"You have no idea…" Charles whispered.

"You’re a scientist, aren't you? You know about time relativity. They will land on planets where time can be completely different from here. We’re not hiding anything from you. You know what you’re getting yourself into." Frost said, looking back at Erik, like Charles wasn’t worth talking to.

Erik knew that Charles was about to explode. He was swinging his leg nervously, a habit he had when he was angry and upset.

"I’ll wait for you in the car." He simply said before letting go of Erik’s hand and leaving the room. Erik followed him with his eyes until he wasn’t in sight anymore, unable to say anything.

"He shouldn't have come here," Frost said disapprovingly.  
"Oh really?" Erik snapped. "You came to our house, in the middle of the night, saying that there are important things we need to talk about, and you expect me to ask my husband to stay patiently at home? Sorry but I do’t think so. He deserves to know, don’t you think?"

No one gave him an answer.

Erik looked at Emma Frost, who followed his father’s brilliant steps in science. At Hank McCoy, who really looked too young to be a part of this. At Logan Howlett, the only man who hadn’t made any sound since the meeting started. If Erik accepted, these people would be his team. They already all accepted. They were willing to give everything up to look for a better future for humanity. Erik wondered how much they were ready to lose. Logan looked like the kind of lonely person who stayed alone by choice. But Emma had his father, and Erik didn’t know, but maybe she had a boyfriend, a husband. She was truly beautiful and smart, it wouldn’t surprise him. And Hank had a wedding ring.

"You’re married." He said to Hank without thinking about it.

"I am, indeed."

Erik cocked his head, waiting for something else.

"She knows… _we_ know that some things are more important than ourselves."

**

Erik couldn’t stop thinking about that sentence. It was true: this mission was about something much bigger than themselves. If they succeeded, they could offer a second chance to humanity. It was supposed to be worth anything they had to give up, wasn’t it?

Erik finished his beer, ignoring the fact that it was six in the morning. They had had a long night. He threw the bottle in the trash can before climbing the stairs to join Charles in their bedroom.

Was the sake of humanity worth abandoning Charles for an unknown number of decades?

He couldn’t think of a proper answer.


End file.
